The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms - sweeten v.

1) sugar, sugar-coat: Can you think of nothing that would sweeten the bad news? 2 dress up, make more attractive or agreeable, sugar-coat, embellish, embroider; make less painful, mitigate, alleviate, assuage, lighten, soften, palliate, mollify, ease, allay, moderate, temper: Perhaps the shareholders would be more amenable to the take-over were the buyers to sweeten the offer.